We had a couple of really good meetings today--the first with Heifer
International and the second with Water Missions Haiti.
BIG thanks to Rebecca for connecting me up with both of these
fantastic organizations!
The representatives from Heifer are very interested in exploring
Pestel as a possible site for their organization!! They will be
going out to Pestel this Wednesday!! We have a pretty good sense at
this point what will be needed on 'our' end to help this succeed:
1. A community of about 200 people who are committed to the project
2. strong leadership within that group
3. good accountability and participation from the start
4. honesty honesty honesty
Interestingly, a couple of other items that I wouldn't have thought
about: they need a bank within close proximity and the area needs to
have 'markets' to sell goods.
We have those!
The meeting with Water Missions was fantastic as well. Really, the
two people that lead WMI's Haiti group--Julio (said, "J ulio" and not
"Hulio") and Elsa--are wonderful, energetic, eager people. Dr.
Seneque had a chance to see the water treatment unit that will be
going out to Pestel, and he was VERY impressed. He is eager to see
that implemented, as are all of us. And the good news: Julio is
going to be out in Jeremie in another week, and he's planning to stop
off in Pestel for a day or two to do an assessment!
Dr. Seneque would like the unit to be placed on the island, and that's
a very good choice. He describes people as using buckets of water
from the ruts in the road.
And the data from the 2010 campaign confirms that the situation on the
island is severe. The results show that the island has the worst
health of all of Pestel, and Pestel has some of the worst health in
Haiti, and Haiti has some of the worst health in the world.
2011 is starting off with a wonderful series of gifts for the people
of Pestel.
Praise God
From Whom
all blessing flow
Thank you for your prayers--I'm quite mindful of them and of your
participation in this good work!
Ben
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